San Francisco is now scanning real estate listings to find unpermitted units, not just waiting for neighbor complaints. If the city finds one, homeowners face tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs to bring it up to code. New legislation would require homeowners to certify no illegal units exist when renovating.
If you own a home in San Francisco with an illegal unit, the city might start coming after you and it could cost you tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Traditionally, the city's relied on complaints from neighbors to figure out whether units in a particular building are there illegally, but now they're paying attention to real estate listings where the number of units described in the description is different than what city records reflect. So like if a legal duplex is advertised as having an illegal third unit, the city might issue you a notice of violation and make you legalize that unit, which requires you bringing it up to code could cost you tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to do. Also, under recently proposed legislation, if you submit plans to renovate your home, you're going to have to certify that you don't have any illegal units in the house, and the city has the right to do their own investigation to determine whether or not that's the case, and if they find otherwise, they could fine you. Bottom line, if you own a home with an illegal unit or you're thinking about buying one, know the risks and make sure you diligence them. Follow me for more Bay Area real estate. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
